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So I went to Karate tonight; I've not seen my mate in a while and he's going through a rough patch and he was teaching so I decided to train with him. In my previous post I talked about the way of the Aikidoka being found in getting hit and I had this very much in mind as sparring came up.

I'm very hard to hit; I see everything as it develops and either I block it or I move. My acceptance of being hit and my determination to watch the blow as it hits me has massively improved my timing. I suppose this is what the old stories mean when they talk about battering the student with a bokken until they stop defending themselves as an initial step of training and perhaps part of what O-Sensei was talking about when he talked about non-resistance.

In this case I am not mentally resisting the attack, I'm allowing it to develop, there is no thought in my mind of stopping it or avoiding it. I create no desire for things to be different, I embrace reality on it's own terms.